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THE WERNER 

BIOGRAPHICAL 

BOOKLETS 



The Story of 
Ulysses S. Grant 




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FOR YOUNG 
READERS 



BY... 

ALMA HOLMAN BURTON 




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Werner School Book ( 
chicago new york 




LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 

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Chap Copyright No. 

BhettjlSl 



UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



THE WERXER BIOGRAPHICAL BOOKLETS 



THE STORY 



OF 



ULYSSES S. GRANT 



FOR YOUNG READERS 



BY ALMA HOLMAN BUK'lON 




WERNER SCHOOL BOOK COMPANY 
NEW YORK CHICAGO BOSTON 



13948 



Copyright, 1898, 
By Werner School Book Company 



189 



&; 



CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER PAGE 

I. Naming the Baby, ..... 5 

II. The Home in Georgetown, ... 8 

III. The West Point Cadet, ... 13 

IV. The Mexican War, . . . . 18 
V. On the Pacific Coast, .... 24 

VI. Farmer and Leather Merchant, . . 28 

VII. The War for the Union, ... ^1 

VIII. Forts Henry and Donelson, ... 36 

IX. Shiloh, or Pittsburg Landing, ^ . 41 

X. Vicksburg, ....... 43 

XI. Chattanooga, ...... 49 

XII. The Close of the War, .... 52 

XIII. President of the United States, . 55 

XIV. The Travels of Ulysses, .... 58 
XV. The Closing Years, .... 62 




1 ':'■' ; . ' 

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ULYSSES S. GRANT. 



THE STORY OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. 



I. — Naming the Baby. 

Jesse Root Grant was a young tanner who lived 
in Clermont County, Ohio. It is said that his 
ancestors belonged to a Scottish clan whose motto 
was: "Stand fast, stand firm, stand sure." 

His great-grandfather, "honest Matthew" Grant, 
landed on Nantasket Beach, in Massachusetts, in 
1630, just ten years after the Pilgrims landed on 
Plymouth Rock. His grandfather was a soldier in 
the French and Indian war, and his father was a 
lieutenant in the Revolution. 

Jesse Grant was proud of his ancestors. He 
tried to honor their memory by his own upright 
life and often said that " Stand fast, stand firm, 
stand sure " was just as good a motto for an Ameri- 
can as for a Scotchman. 

He was so honest and industrious that he was 
respected by all who knew him. 

After he had saved enough money to build a 
house he married pretty Hannah Simpson. Their 
new home was at Point Pleasant near the Ohio 



THE STORY OF CLYSSES S. GRANT. 



River. The country around them was rough and 
wild, and Indians prowled in the forests, but they 
did not seem to mind that. 

Young Grant whitewashed his cottage inside and 
out; he planted seeds for vines at the doorway and 
made a gravel walk to the gate. 

Hannah wove mats for the floor and put curtains 
at the windows and hung all her new bright tins on 
the wall. 

They were very happy; and on the 27th of April, 
1822, the first baby came. It was a great event for 
the whole neighborhood. 

"A boy, is it?" said one. " Well, if he's a second 
Jesse he'll be a blessing to Clermont County." 

"Aye, and to the state, and to the United States," 
said another. 

Many names were proposed for the new comer, 
but the doting parents were not satisfied with any 
of them. 

The weeks went by. " Hello, Baby!" said Jesse, 
when he entered the house. " Bye-bye, Baby!" he 
called when he went away. 

One day Hannah said: " It will never do. See 
what a big boy he is already. He must have a 



THE STORY OF ULYSSES S GRANT. 



name. Let us drive over to father's and ask him 
about it." 

And so when baby Grant was a month old he 
was bundled up and taken to Grandfather Simp- 
son's in search of a name. 

Grandfather and grandmother and two aunts 
were at the door to receive him. How proud the 
old folks were when they looked into the round, 
blue eyes of their first grandchild! And how the 
aunts laughed and chattered as they took off his 
shawls and showed his pink little hands and feet. 

"What is his name?" they all cried in a breath. 

"Well," said Hannah, " Jesse wants one name 
and I want another, and you shall decide. Which 
shall it be, Albert, after Albert Gallatin, the states- 
man of Pennsylvania, or Ulysses, after the hero of 
the Greeks? " 

" Neither, daughter, neither," said Grandfather 
Simpson. " The name above all is Hiram, that of 
the king whom Solomon loved." 

' Oh no! " cried one of the aunts, " Theodore is 
so much prettier than either of the others." 

" Well, well," said Grandfather Simpson; " let us 
ballot for the name. Bring pen, ink and paper and 



THE STORY OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. 



write what you like on a slip. We will then put 
the ballots into a hat and shake them, and the one 
first picked out shall be the name." 

The smiling old farmer held out the hat and all 
the votes went in. Little did he think that ballots 
would ever make his grandchild president of the 
United States! 

The hat was shaken with a will. A slip was 
taken out: " Ulysses! " said Hannah, " its just what 
I wanted." 

But the grandfather looked so disappointed that 
the child was called Hiram Ulysses. Now Hiram 
was a wise and upright ruler, and Ulysses was a 
warrior who fought for his country and then 
traveled over the whole known world. 

I am sure that when you have read about Hiram 
Ulysses Grant you will say that he resembled his 
namesakes very much. 



II. — The Home in Georgetown. 
When Ulysses was nearly a year old, Mr. Grant 
moved to Georgetown, a little village about forty 
miles east of Cincinnati. 



THE STORY OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. 



He built a house near a creek which emptied 
into the Ohio river, and established a tannery to 
make skins into leather. 

Ulysses grew very fast and was petted by every- 
body. One day, when he was two years old, there 
was a celebration of some kind in Georgetown. 
Perhaps it was because John Ouincy Adams had 
just been elected President of the United States. 
Many people were on the streets. Jesse Grant held 
Ulysses high up in his arms to see the procession. 

"Hello, Lyss!" said a boy with a pistol. " Want 
to shoot? Let him fire it, Mr. Grant." 

The father put the baby fingers to the trigger. 
Bang ! went the pistol. The women screamed; 
but Ulysses did not wink or dodge. 

" Fick it again ! Fick it again ! " he shouted in 
glee, and again the report rang out. 

" He'll make a general, sure," said a bystander. 

Ulysses often played in the tan bark near the 
mill. He saw trading flat-boats float down the 
Ohio river loaded with apples, cider, and corn; and 
family barges carrying settlers farther west; and 
sometimes a steamer passed by, with loud whistles 
and a great deal of smoke. 



IO THE STORY OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. 

When he was older he ground tan bark for his 
father by driving in a circle a horse hitched to the 
bark-mill. He learned to swim and dive in a deep 
hole in the creek. He skated, and trapped rabbits 
in winter; and he amused himself all the year 
round much as other boys do. 

He was not very brilliant at school. He was shy 
and slow, but because he was diligent he almost 
always succeeded in what he attempted to do. 

" Believe that you can and you can," said 
Ulysses. 

He would not lie. His honest blue eyes looked 
straight into the eyes of his playmates and they 
believed whatever he said. 

He sometimes brought his friends home with him 
to spend the night. They would gather about the 
kitchen hearth, where the fire blazed high, and 
play checkers, or tell riddles while they ate apples 
or cracked hickory nuts, and after a game of fox- 
and-geese they went to bed in the loft overhead. 

The first book that Ulysses read through was a 
Life of George Washington. Once he came near 
being punished because he defended the name of 
Washington. It came about in this way: His 



THE STORY OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. 



cousin John, who lived in Canada, made him a 
visit. Because Canada belonged to England, John 
was loyal to his king. He thought the United 
States should be an English province. 

He said to Ulysses: " Your boasted Washington 
was a traitor when he fought against King 
George." 

" You say that again and I'll thrash you," shouted 
Ulysses. 

" I do say it again," said the little Canadian. 

Both boys had pluck. Coats were off and the 
battle waxed fierce between the American eagle 
and the British lion. 

In the end John lay sprawling on the ground. 
When Ulysses went into the house his mother saw 
that he had been in a fight. She made ready to 
punish him with a birch rod. 

But his father said: " I do not think you ought 
to whip him. He has never quarreled with his 
cousin before. He fought in defense of his coun- 
try, and he ought to defend his country." And so 
the boy escaped punishment. 

From the time he could walk, Ulysses showed 
great love for horses. When he was about seven 



THE STORY OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. 



years old he climbed to the manger, put a collar 
and harness on a young colt, and then made the 
animal haul brushwood all day long. 

At ten he drove with some leather from George- 
town to Cincinnati, and brought passengers back 
with him. He would ride bareback standing on 
one foot while his horse ran at full speed. 

Once there was much excitement about a tricky 
pony that came to town. It was said to go round 
a ring like lightning and throw anyone who tried 
to ride it. Ulysses sat among the boys as the pony 
was led out. 

"Will some one step up and ride this pony?" 
asked the jockey, smiling and bowing. 

Ulysses mounted the pony. It began to kick and 
plunge; and when the little rider kept his seat it 
ran round the ring at full speed. Then out jumped 
a monkey and sprang on the boy's shoulder and 
pulled his hair, while the pony ran faster than ever. 
Ulysses sat bolt upright. 

He did not smile nor look to the right or the 
left. The monkey chattered; the pony drooped 
its ears; and everybody laughed as the mortified 
jockey led them away. 



THE STORY OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. I 3 



III. — The West Point Cadet. 

One day when Ulysses was busy in the tannery 
his father said: " My son, I believe you are going 
to receive the appointment." 

" What appointment, father?" 

"To West Point. I have applied for it." 

Ulysses knew that a boy had just failed in the 
examination at West Point. He was afraid lest he 
also would fail, and so he said: "I don't want to 
go, father." 

" But I wish it," said his father. 

" Well, then, I suppose I shall go," he replied. 
He studied hard to prepare for the examination. 

The people of Georgetown could scarcely believe 
that Lyss Grant was going to West Point. They 
looked upon him as a dull boy who cared only for 
horses, and they laughed at the idea of his wear- 
ing brass buttons and shoulder straps. 

In 1839, when he was just seventeen years old, 
Ulysses set out for Ripley, which was the landing 
for the steamboat bound for Pittsburg. 

He wore a new suit of clothes and had a hundred 
dollars in his pocket; but, for all that, his courage 
was at a low ebb. If he failed in examination he 



1 4 THE STORY OF I 'L } 'SSES S. GRA N T. 

would only be making the long journey to bring 
disgrace on his family. 

When he reached Pittsburg he took the canal 
boat to Harrisburg ; then he rode in a railroad car 
to Philadelphia. The train traveled at the rate of 
twelve miles an hour, which seemed to be wonder- 
fully fast. 

At Philadelphia he called on his aunts. They 
made much of him and showed him about the 
Quaker City. He visited Carpenters' Hall where 
the first Continental Congress had met, and Fed- 
eral Hall where President Washington had deliv- 
ered his famous farewell address before Congress, 
and where John Adams had been inaugurated the 
second president of the United States. He went 
to the graveyard on Arch street where Benjamin 
Franklin lay buried, and he saw the old Penn man- 
sion where Benedict Arnold, who became a traitor 
to his country, once lived with his beautiful Tory 
wife. 

Ulysses wished he might stay longer in Philadel- 
phia ; but he was obliged to say good-bye to his 
kind aunts. He was soon in New York City. 

And then one bright May morning he stepped 



THE STORY OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. 1 5 

on a steamboat and was carried up the Hudson 
River. When someone at his elbow said that the 
low buildings on the left bank were the West Point 
barracks his heart sank within him. He dreaded 
the examination very much. 

At last the trial was over. Young Grant was 
found to be sound in body and more than five feet 
high and he answered enough questions for admis- 
sion to West Point. 

This meant that he could enter one of the best 
schools in the country. The United States gov- 
ernment would pay him for learning to be a 
trained soldier and a polished gentleman ; and 
when he had finished his studies he would receive 
a commission in the regular army. 

Hiram Ulysses Grant was enrolled as Ulysses 
Simpson Grant through a mistake of the congress- 
man who appointed him to the position. Ulysses 
tried to have the name changed ; but he was called 
Ulysses Simpson the rest of his life. 

Most of the cadets received nicknames. One 
was called "Dad" because his hair was turning gray; 
another " Doc " because he had clerked in a drug 
store; another "Chub" because he was stout. 



1 6 THE STORY OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. 

Ulysses was called " Uncle Sam " because his 
initials were "U. S." 

He was, at first, put into the awkward squad, and 
a few snobs called him " mudsill " when they saw 
how awkward he was. 

But he had no false pride to be hurt ; and he was 
always so modest and manly that he soon won the 
respect of all. 

There was much to do at West Point. The 
drum beat at five o'clock in the morning and the 
infantry drilled five days in the week. The lessons 
were long and difficult. There were maps of 
battlefields to draw, bridges to make, forts to 
build and intrenchments to fortify. There was 
engineering practice and artillery and cavalry drill. 

Ulysses was the most daring rider in his class. 
" Old York " was a famous horse in camp which 
only one other besides himself dared to mount. 

When seated on Old York he cleared a fence six 
feet and three inches high, which was the most 
noted leap ever made in the school. 

Grant was four years at West Point. He 
marched in review before President Martin Van 
Buren ; but whenever he saw General Winfield 



THE STORY OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. \ 7 

Scott ride about the drill ground on his splendid 
horse he thought he would rather be a general 
than a president. 

When Grant was graduated he received a com- 
mission as lieutenant of the 4th infantry regiment 
of Ohio. 

He returned home for a vacation before going 
to camp with the regular army. His friends in 
Georgetown found him much changed. He was 
taller and straighter, and his dress was always neat. 

At first he took pride in wearing his full uniform; 
but one day his pride had a fall. As he was return- 
ing home from a stroll, in fine humor with himself 
he saw a drunken stable boy parading in front of 
his house. The fellow's ragged shirt was adorned 
with brass buttons and his nankeen pantaloons had 
a white stripe sewed down the seams. He wore 
neither hat nor shoes ; but he held his head very 
high and marched up and down with the stately 
step of the new lieutenant, while street urchins 
cheered him on. 

This parade taught Grant a lesson, and he 
resolved to wear his uniform only when duty 
required it. 



THE STORY OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. 



IV. — The Mexican War. 

Lieutenant Grant began military service for 
the United States in 1843. The standing army 
numbered about ten thousand men. The troops 
were scattered in small squads about the country ; 
for we were at peace with all the world except the 
Indians. 

Grant was sent with the 4th infantry regiment to 
Missouri. He went on duty at Jefferson barracks, 
near St. Louis. The Indians did not make much 
trouble, and camp life was dull ; but he spent many 
pleasant evenings in St. Louis at the home of the 
Dents. 

Pretty little Julia Dent was the sister of his West 
Point roommate, and Grant soon became her 
devoted admirer. 

It was not long before there was much talk 
about the new state of Texas. Texas had once 
been a part of Mexico. When Santa Anna became 
president of that republic he was so unpopular that 
the Texans refused to live under his rule. They 
set up a republic of their own with Samuel 
Houston, an American, as president. 

Then Santa Anna marched his army across the 



THE STORY OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. 



19 



Rio Grande River to conquer the rebellious 
province ; but he was forced to march back 
again. 

France, England, and the United States acknowl- 
edged the independence of Texas. Most of the 
citizens in that country were Americans, and they 
soon asked that their state might be annexed to 
the United States. 

The people of the South wanted Texas admitted 
to the Union. It was a fine cotton country, it had 
a long sea coast for shipping to foreign ports, and 
it might be divided into several slave states. 

But the people of the North bitterly opposed the 
admission of Texas because they did not wish 
slavery extended. 

At last near the close of President John Tyler's 
administration Texas was admitted. The new 
state soon caused trouble. A dispute arose about 
the southern boundary line. The Mexicans 
claimed that it was on the river Nueces, but the 
Texans said that it extended farther south to the 
Rio Grande. 

President James K. Polk took the side of Texas 
in the quarrel and, in 1846, he sent General 



20 THE STORY OF ULYSSES S. G It A. XT. 



Zachary Taylor with an army to the disputed 
territory. 

Lieutenant Grant and his regiment hastened to 
join General Taylor. 

The Mexican troops crossed the Rio Grande 
and attacked the Americans. General Taylor 
drove them back across the river. 

Grant's company guarded the artillery; the young 
lieutenant proved so useful that he was made 
quartermaster to look after supplies. 

General Taylor soon marched against Monterey. 
This was the largest city in northern Mexico. It 
lay in the midst of beautiful orchards and vineyards, 
and was guarded by ten thousand Mexican 
soldiers. 

While the battle was raging the ammunition in 
Grant's regiment gave out. Someone must order 
more. The headquarters were four miles away on 
the other side of the camp. To reach them a 
courier must ride straight through the enemy's city. 

Grant volunteered to go on the dangerous 
errand. He mounted a swift horse, hung one foot 
over the saddle and, catching hold by the mane, 
started off like a Comanche Indian. Away the 



THE STORY OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. 2 I 

horse flew through the streets of Monterey, while 
muskets were being fired from all the windows. 
Neither horse nor rider was hurt, and Grant soon 
returned with a wagon load of ammunition. 

Monterey was captured, and then Grant's regi- 
ment was sent to the mouth of the Rio Grande 
to join General Winfield Scott on his way to the 
City of Mexico. 

General Scott landed with his army at Vera 
Cruz. The troops marched within sight of vol- 
canoes crowned with snow, and past ruined 
temples and pyramids, built by the Aztec Indians 
long before the Spaniards discovered Mexico. 

The army fought as it marched. The nearer it 
came to the capital the more it was opposed by the 
desperate enemy. 

Grant was always in the thickest of the fight. 
He received promotion at Molino del Rey, or the 
Mill of the King. This was a long stone fortifica- 
tion where grain was stored. While the batteries 
were bombarding the strong wall, Grant and a 
few others forced a gate, climbed to a roof, and 
captured six Mexican officers and several pri- 
vates. 



2 2 THE STORY OF ULYSSES S. GRA.XT. 

The King's Mill was taken; but between it and 
Mexico stood a high mound called Chapultepec. 
Its rocky sides were bristling with guns. The 
mound was taken after a hard fight. 

Grant, with a few volunteers, pulled a small 
cannon under an aqueduct, which carried water 
into Mexico. He crept along in the shadow of its 
pillars till he reached a church which overlooked 
the city. With his comrades he dragged the 
cannon up to the belfry and, opening fire, dislodged 
the enemy from an important position. 

" That was a brilliant idea! " exclaimed the 
commanding officer, and he sent Lieutenant Pem- 
berton to bring Grant to headquarters to receive 
his personal thanks. 

This Lieutenant Pemberton, as we shall see, 
would one day be defeated by Grant on quite 
another field of battle. 

Major Robert E. Lee made special mention of 
Grant in his report on Chapultepec. " Second 
Lieutenant Grant," he said "behaved with dis- 
tinguished gallantry." Major Lee little thought 
that he would be defeated by Grant on many 
fields of battle. 



THE STORY OF ULYSSES S. GRAXT. 



23 



Mexico surrendered. When General Scott 
entered the city Grant was at his side 

The army went into camp while waiting for a 
treaty of peace to be signed. Grant was still 
quartermaster. The soldiers were ragged, and he 
set Mexican tailors to work on new uniforms. 
Provisions were almost gone and he rented a 
stone bakery, bought flour and fuel, and hired 
Mexican bakers to make bread. 

He managed the funds of the regiment so well 
that he saved money enough to furnish a band of 
musicians and provide other luxuries. 

You may be sure that he was popular with his 
men. Meanwhile he visited the places of interest 
in the quaint old city. He went to one of the bull 
fights, where horsemen, armed with long spears, 
tortured wild bulls to death; but the sight of such 
cruelty made him sick and he would not stay to 
watch it. 

He climbed Mount Popocatepetl and was lost 
with some comrades, in a storm, for several hours. 
One of the party was Captain Buckner who would 
one day surrender an army to Grant. But, of 
course, neither of them ever thought of such a 



2 4 



THE STORY OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. 



thing as that, and they had many a jaunt together 
among the ruins of old Mexico. 

In 1848 the treaty of Guadalupe was signed. 
There was peace again between Mexico and the 
United States. Grant set sail with his regiment, 
and was soon home again. 

He was just twenty-six years old. He had 
served under the best officers in the army; he had 
seen cities besieged and stout forts carried by 
storm, and he had become acquainted with most 
of the military men in the country. 

The knowledge gained in the Mexican war was 
to be of great service to him later on. 



V. — On the Pacific Coast. 
Soon after Lieutenant Grant's return from the 
Mexican war he married Julia Dent of St. Louis. 
They lived wherever the 4th regiment was 
stationed, until 1852, when the regiment was 
ordered to California. Grant then told his young 
wife that she must remain at home. He said that 
the Pacific coast was so lar off that she must not 



THE STORY OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. 



25 



even expect a letter for several months. There 
was a sad parting when he set out on his journey. 

Now before you could possibly guess why 
Grant's regiment was sent to the coast you must 
know what wonderful events had occurred since 
the treaty with Mexico. 

By that treaty upper California, with a great 
deal of other land, was ceded to the United States. 

California had good harbors and a fertile soil, 
but it was so far from the states that no one 
thought it would ever be very thickly settled. 

Hardly was the treaty signed, however, when 
it was reported that gold had been discovered 
near the Sacramento River. The news spread 
round the world. San Francisco, a sleepy little 
Spanish mission with a few mud cabins, became a 
city of many thousands within a year. 

Americans, Mexicans, Germans, Frenchmen, 
Englishmen, and Chinamen Hocked into California 
and scattered over the gold fields. 

Saloons and gambling-houses were every where. 
The reckless miners provoked the Indians to go 
on the warpath; and then helpless citizens called 
on the government for protection. And so it 



26 THE STORY Of- ULYSSES S. GRANT. 

came about that Grant's regiment was ordered to 
California. 

There was no railroad to the coast in those 
days. The journey across the prairies and over 
the mountains was so slow and so dangerous that 
the troops went by way of the Isthmus of Panama- 
They set sail at New York and landed at Aspin- 
wall. 

Now, today, a swift train of cars crosses the 
isthmus from Aspinwall to Panama City; but in 
1852 there was no railroad, and it sometimes took 
weeks to make the journey. 

The regiment began its slow march in the hot 
month of July. Poisonous vapors lurked in the 
marshes and a fever broke out. Grant was still 
quartermaster. He furnished food and fresh 
water; distributed medicines, and fought the 
plague as best he could. But more than fifty of 
his comrades died. 

When the survivors of the 4th regiment reached 
California they went into camp near San Fran- 
cisco. They helped restore order among the 
miners, and scattered the Indians to their wig- 
wams. 



THE STi 1RY OF UL\ 'SSES S. GRA NT. 2 7 

Then Grant's company was stationed at Van- 
couver, at that time in Oregon Territory. People 
in the East were emigrating more and more to the 
West. It was said that a railroad ought to be 
built to the coast, and several surveying parties 
were sent out by the government to examine the 
different routes. 

In 1853 Lieutenant George B. McClellan came 
to Vancouver with some engineers to make a 
survey for a Northern Pacific railroad. 

Grant had been with McClellan in the Mexican 
war, and was delighted to meet him again. He 
lodged him in his best tent, and gave him his 
fleetest horse to ride. Grant was a fine host. 
When his army friends gathered about him none 
described the Mexican campaign so well as he. 

After one of the talks an officer said : " How 
clear headed Grant is in describing a battle ! He 
seems to see the whole thing." 

But in all the talks around the camp fire he 
never said anything he would be ashamed for his 
mother to hear. When an officer was about to 
repeat a story, and said, as he looked around: 
"There are no ladies here — ." 



THE STORY OF CLYSSES S. GRANT. 



" No," said Grant, "but there are gentlemen!" 
and the bad story was never told. 

After a time Lieutenant Grant was made cap- 
tain of a company in California. But camp life 
on the frontier was dull; the pay was not enough 
to support his family on the coast, where every- 
thing was very expensive, and he felt that he 
could not always be separated from his loved 
ones. 

And so, in 1854, Captain Grant resigned his 
commission in the army. He said to a friend, as 
he started for home, " Whoever hears from me 
in ten years will probably hear of a well-to-do 
Missouri farmer." 



VI. — Farmer and Leather Merchant. 

When Grant landed in New York he was 
obliged to send to his father for money to get 
home. He was thirty-two years old. He knew 
no profession except that of the army, and he 
had a wife and children to support. 

Mrs. Grant owned a small farm near St. Louis, 
and here he decided to try to make a living. He 



THE STORY OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. 29 

hewed logs and built a house, which he called 
" Hardscrabble." 

A hard scrabble, indeed, did the army officer 
have in his efforts to make a farmer of himself. 

In the spring he plowed the ground, and sowed 
and planted his grain; in the summer he mowed 
and threshed his wheat; and when winter came 
he gathered his corn, and cut wood to sell at four 
dollars a cord. 

But in spite of his work he could not succeed, 
because he did not know how to manage. His 
horses and machinery cost so much, and the prod- 
ucts of his farm brought so little, that, at the end of 
three years, he was two thousand dollars in debt. 

The crops had to be sold, and the horses and 
implements put up at auction. The neighbors 
loitered about the place while the auctioneer 
called off the sales. 

They found the stable well kept, and the horses 
in fine condition; Grant had learned how to do 
such work at West Point; but the thrifty farmers 
shook their heads when they saw that the plows 
were rusty and broken, and the grain bins were 
almost empty. 



30 THE STOR Y OF UL YSSES S. GRANT. 

"Grant is a good fellow," they said; "but he 
was never cut out to be one of us! " 

After everything was sold, Grant tried to get 
employment in St. Louis. He first went into the 
real estate business. He was so quiet and so shy 
that he could not make bargains. Then he tried 
to get an appointment as county engineer. He 
was too little known to the politicians, and so 
some one more favored than he received the 
office. 

He worked in various ways to make a living for 
his family, but fortune seemed to frown upon 
him. When his father heard of his desperate 
straits he cast about to find how he might help 
him. 

He wrote to a son who was in the leather busi- 
ness at Galena, Illinois, and told him of his 
brother's ill luck. 

"Give Ulysses a chance, my boy," he said, "I 
may have spoiled him at West Point." 

It was not long before Grant was clerking in 
the leather store at Galena. He was to receive 
only a few hundred dollars the first year. If he 
made a good salesman, his salary would then 



THE STORY OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. 



31 



be increased. He went quietly about his tasks, 
and expected to be a leather merchant the rest 
of his life. 



VII. — The War for the Union. 

It was in the year i860 that Grant went into the 
leather business. There was great excitement in 
Galena over the national conventions. Two citi- 
zens of Illinois, Stephen A. Douglas and Abra- 
ham Lincoln, were candidates for President of the 
United States. 

One branch of the Democratic party nominated 
Douglas. The Democrats were then in power, 
with James Buchanan as President of the United 
States. 

The Republican party nominated Lincoln. It 
was a new party, and had once been defeated. 

If the Democratic party had been united Doug- 
las would have felt sure of being elected. Lincoln 
was not sure about his own election; but he said 
that his party was in the right, and if it did not 
win this time it would the next. The chief ques- 
tion between the two parties was whether slavery 
should be allowed in the territories. 



32 



THE STORY OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. 



The United States owned several territories 
which had not yet been made into states. Douglas 
declared that the citizens of a territory had the 
right to say whether it should be a slave or a free 
state when it came into the Union. 

Lincoln denied this. He said that the govern- 
ment of the United States had control of its terri- 
tories before they became states. He quoted the 
Declaration of Independence — that all men are 
" endowed by their Creator with life, liberty, 
and the pursuit of happiness," and he said that 
Washington and Jefferson had intended that gov- 
ernment land should be free soil. 

Many of the people in the North agreed with 
Lincoln. " He is right," they said. " Look at 
Europe. Every respectable nation in Europe has 
set its slaves free. America boasts that she is the 
' land of the free and the home of the brave.' 
and stamps Liberty on her coins, yet four million 
human beings are kept as slaves within her bor- 
ders. We cannot prevent slavery in the old states, 
but let us forbid it in the new states." 

In the end the Republicans elected Abraham 
Lincoln. 



THE STORY OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. 



33 



Before he was inaugurated, South Carolina 
seceded from the Union. Perhaps you will 
remember that, in 1832, South Carolina tried to 
secede from the Union and President Andrew 
Jackson prevented it by sending a warship to 
Charleston. 

But James Buchanan was a very different kind of 
president. He allowed other states to join South 
Carolina. They established a government of their 
own which they called the Confederate States of 
America, with Jefferson Davis as president. 

The members of Congress from the Confederate 
States; the secretaries in Buchanan's Cabinet; and 
many officers in the army and navy resigned their 
places and took oath to support the new govern- 
ment. 

Most of the forts in the South, which belonged 
to the United States, were seized by the Confed- 
erates. The commander of Fort Sumter in 
Charleston Harbor was Robert Anderson. He 
was a brave soldier and had been wounded at 
Chapultepec while fighting by the side of Grant. 

Major Anderson refused to surrender his fort. 
The whole world waited to see what Abraham 



34 



THE STORY OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. 



Lincoln would do when he became President. He 
was inaugurated on the 4th of March, 1861. 

In his speech he said: " I shall take care that the 
laws of the Union be faithfully executed in all the 
states. In doing this there need be no bloodshed 
or violence, and there shall be none unless it be 
forced upon the national authority." 

Very soon after this the Confederates again 
demanded the surrender of Fort Sumter. Major 
Anderson stoutly refused and kept the Stars and 
Stripes waving on the flagstaff. At last the Con- 
federates fired on the fort. 

When the people in the North heard that the 
flag of the Union had been dishonored, they for- 
got all about the slavery question and united to 
defend the honor of the United States govern- 
ment. 

One young Democrat in Galena, who had voted 
against Lincoln for President, said : " I am not a 
Democrat now, nor a Republican, either; I am an 
American and will defend our flag! " 

When President Lincoln called for 75,000 volun- 
teers so many enrolled at Galena that a company 
was formed immediately. 



THE STORY OF ULYSSES S (,'RA.VT. 



Grant quit the leather store. He said: " The 
United States educated me for the army. What I 
am I owe to my country. I have served her 
through one war and, live or die, I will serve her 
through this." 

He drilled the Galena company and helped them 
get their blue uniforms ready. 

He was soon called to Springfield and made col- 
onel of the 21st Illinois regiment of infantry. The 
men were disorderly. Their former colonel had 
been dismissed because he could not control them. 

When Grant appeared before them on the drill- 
ground he was in citizen's dress. He looked 
shabby and seemed so modest that they began to 
jeer at him. "Speech! Speech!" they cried. 

" Soldiers," said Grant, " go to your quarters." 
His tones were so commanding that they obeyed. 
It was not long before they said: "Grant knows 
what he is about. We can't scare him or deceive 
him-" 

The 2 1 st regiment was ordered to Missouri to 
guard the railroads. Grant did not transport his 
troops on the cars. He knew they must become 
accustomed to long marches. 



2 6 THE STOR V OF UL YSSES S. GRANT. 

" My first marching should be in a friendly coun- 
try," he said. 

He drilled his men on the way to Missouri and 
taught them to obey every one of his com- 
mands. 

At this very time the Confederates at Richmond, 
Virginia, were wondering who would be the officers 
in the armies of the North. 

" There is one West Pointer," said General 
Beauregard, " whom I hope the Northern people 
will not find out; I mean 'Sam' Grant. I knew 
him well at West Point and in Mexico. I should 
fear him more than any other man they have. He 
is clear headed, quick, and daring." 



VIII. — Forts Henry and Donelson. 

It was not long until the Northern people did 
find out " Sam " Grant. After several skirmishes 
with the Confederates he was made brigadier-gen- 
eral with headquarters at Cairo, Illinois. 

Missouri and Kentucky were still in the Union; 
but they were slave states. 



THE STORY OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. 



37 



" Missouri must be ours," said the Confederates; 
" for the lead mines for our bullets are there, and 
most of the slaveholders will help us." 

They hurried guns and troops to Columbus, in 
Kentucky, which stood on a high bluff overlooking 
the Missouri shore. 

" Kentucky must belong to us, too," they said. 
" It must be our vanguard on the border of three 
Union states." 

They planted guns at Fort Henry on the Ten- 
nessee, and at Fort Donelson on the Cumberland, 
and along the east bank of the Mississippi. Then 
they stretched their armies from the great river to 
the Atlantic ocean." 

" The Yankees cannot invade the South by land 
or water," said the men in gray. 

" We must see about that," said General 
Grant. 

He laid plans with Commodore Foote who com- 
manded the gunboats on the Ohio. Soon a fleet of 
boats steamed up the Tennessee with transports. 
Grant, with seventeen thousand men in blue, was 
landed four miles below the fort. 

And while the army marched by land, the gun- 



THE STORY OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. 



boats proceeded up the river to the fort. Shot and 
shell plowed through its earthworks and crippled 
its mounted guns. 

The Confederates saw that it was useless to try 
to hold Fort Henry. They raised the white flag of 
surrender. But the smoke was so dense it could 
not be seen. The firing from the boats continued 
and then two thousand Confederates fled in a panic 
to Fort Donelson, twelve miles away. 

In the meantime Grant was hurrying up with his 
army as fast as he could. The ground was wet 
from a heavy rain. His progress was so slow that 
when he reached the fort, the Stars and Stripes 
were waving on its flagstaff. 

" Can you do as well as that at Donelson ? " asked 
General Grant of Commodore Foote. 

" I shall do my best to help you take the fort," 
replied the brave seaman. 

The Confederates were determined to hold Fort 
Donelson. It guarded the Cumberland River, 
which led up to Nashville, where their armies in 
the West had headquarters. It was strongly in- 
trenched on a bend of the river. Back of a line of 
batteries at the water's edge were rifle pits; beyond 



THE STORY OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. 39 

these were stretches of felled trees, and above all 
towered a broad bluff well guarded with cannon. 

Grant marched toward the fort. The gunboats 
steamed down the Tennessee, then up the Ohio 
and then up the Cumberland. When Commodore 
Foote came near the fort he opened fire; but 
his shots were answered with shots from the bat- 
teries until nearly every gunboat was crippled. 

The Union soldiers surrounded the fort, and for 
three days there was hard fighting. Then Grant 
secured a commanding position overlooking the 
fortifications. That night the Union army slept 
well. It was sure of victory on the next day. 

But there was no sleeping in the great fort. 
Lights were moving all night long. Early next 
morning a negro came into the Union camp saying 
he had some news for " de gen'l." 

" Dey'sbeen a goin' all night! " 

" What?" said Grant; " leaving the fort? " 

"Yes, Massa, ef I's don't tell de truf I'll hang. 
Dey's been a goin' all night." 

The old negro was right. Many Confederates 
had escaped under cover of the night. 

General Buckner was in command of the fort. 



^O THE STORY OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. 

He knew Grant well. He was the same Buckner 
that had been lost in a storm with him on Mount 
Popocatepetl, and he understood what kind of a 
person he had to oppose. 

"It is useless to hold out against such a man as 
Grant," he said. " He will never retreat. I must 
surrender, but I'll get the best terms I can." 

So he wrote a letter asking favorable terms. 
Grant promptly replied: " No terms, except 
unconditional and immediate surrender, can be 
accepted. I propose to move immediately upon 
your works." 

General Buckner and fourteen thousand men 
laid down their arms as prisoners of war. 

When the news of the fall of Donelson reached 
the North, people could hardly believe it. 

" Who is this Grant? " they asked. 

" I remember a little lieutenant who won laurels 
in the war with Mexico," said General Winfield 
Scott; " his name was U. S. Grant." 

" The ' U. S.' stands for Unconditional Sur- 
render!" said the delighted people. 

Grant was soon afterwards made major 
general. 



THE STOR Y OF UL YSSES S. GRANT. 4 1 

IX. — Shiloh, or Pittsburg Landing. 

After the surrender of forts Henry and Donel- 
son the Confederates abandoned Columbus, Ken- 
tucky, and Nashville, Tennessee. They hurried to 
Corinth, a little town in northern Mississippi, where 
they collected large stores of food and ammunition. 
They planned to cross the Ohio and carry war into 
the North. 

General Grant heard that a large army was 
collecting at Corinth. 

" This army must not go North," he said to his 
generals. 

He sent to Nashville for more troops and trans- 
ported his army up the Tennessee to Pittsburg 
Landing, about twenty miles from Corinth. Here 
he went into camp while waiting for the Nashville 
troops. His lines stretched out several miles. 

One night the Confederates marched from 
Corinth. General Albert Sidney Johnston was in 
command. He made a quick attack upon one wing 
of Grant's army at Shiloh Church, three miles from 
Pittsburg Landing. 

It was just daylight. The cooks in the Union 
camp were stirring the camp fires for breakfast. 



^.2 THE STORY OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. 

The arms were stacked and many soldiers were 
still asleep. 

Shot and shell tore through the tents. Some 
were killed in their beds; some fled in a panic; but 
the most of the men seized their guns and made a 
bold stand. 

Grant was several miles away when he heard the 
roar of the cannon. He took a boat for the front 
and was soon in the midst of the battle. The men 
fell, dead and wounded, around him; a ball struck 
the scabbard of his sword and broke it off; but he 
hurried from one company to another, urging them 
forward. 

All day the battle raged. The Union army was 
driven slowly back to the landing. Despair was 
written on every face. Suddenly cheer on cheer 
arose. Buell's army from Nashville was seen on 
the opposite bank of the river. 

Union gunboats hurled shells upon the pursuing 
enemy as evening came on; but the battle of Shiloh 
seemed won by the Confederates. 

" What preparations have you made for sur- 
render? " asked General Buell, as he sat with 
Grant in his tent. 



THE STORY OF ULYSSES S. GRAXT. 43 

"I have not given up hope of victory yet," 
replied Grant. 

During most of the night he and his generals 
formed their lines for the morning. 

Now the Confederates expected that the blue 
coats would be fleeing for safety down the river; 
but when the sun rose, there stood the Union army 
in battle array. The struggle began again. The 
Confederates were driven back until they had lost 
all they had won the day before. When night 
came on again, the Union troops threw themselves 
down on the ground to sleep. The Confederates 
returned to Corinth. In a few weeks they retreated 
from Corinth. Then Union troops and gunboats 
moved down the Mississippi River, defeated the 
Confederate ironclads and took possession of 
Memphis. The states north of the Ohio were safe. 

Grant was given command of the Department 
of Tennessee and made his headquarters at 
Corinth. 

X. — Vicksburg. 
All this time there had been fighting at the 
mouth of the Mississippi. Commodore Farragut 



44 



THE STORY OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. 



ascended the river, bombarded the forts, and 
captured New Orleans. 

Farragut then wished to join Grant up the river; 
but Port Hudson stood in the way. 

Grant wished to join Farragut down the river; 
but Vicksburg stood in the way. 

Between these two forts the Confederates had 
control of the country. They brought flour and 
cattle from Texas and Louisiana to feed their 
armies. 

" No gunboats can pass Vicksburg without my 
consent," said General Pemberton whose army 
guarded the batteries along the waters edge. 

"We'll see about that," said General Grant; "I 
think we shall now split the Confederacy in two, 
and the wedge that shall do it will be my army at 
Vicksburg." 

He marched his troops from Corinth to 
Memphis, and, floating down the river, he landed a 
few miles above Vicksburg. Before him were high 
bluffs and a dense forest, bristling with guns. It 
was quite out of the question to reach the fort 
from the north. 

M We must attack it from the south," said Grant. 



THE STORY OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. 45 

" Impossible! " exclaimed his generals. 

Vicksburg stood on a bend of the river and was 
guarded for eight miles with batteries. There 
seemed no way to carry provisions past the fort. 

"We will coax the river to change its old bed," 
said Grant. 

He set thousands of men to digging a broad 
canal across the neck of land opposite Vicksburg. 
They worked for several months. 

But the summer sun melted the snows in the 
mountains. The Ohio, the Missouri, and the 
Arkansas rolled in floods into the Mississippi, and 
then the great river overflowed its banks and 
filled the canal. The troops were obliged to flee 
for their lives. 

" Ha! ha! " cried men in the South. "Even the 
1 Father of Waters' is helping us." 

" Shame! shame! " said men in the North. " Our 
armies are wasting time making ditches." 

Some busy bodies went to Washington and said 
to President Lincoln: " Remove Grant from com- 
mand and put a real general in his place." 

But the President replied: "I rather like the 
man. I think I will try him a little longer." 



^6 THE STORY OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. 



Grant did not say a word when he heard about 
the complaints. He had his plans. He knew very 
well that if these plans failed he would be removed 
from command. 

He called an old boatman to his tent. " Can I 
run my transports past the batteries on a very dark 
night?" 

" It might be done, general; but it's a great risk 
you'd be taking." 

"I'll take the risk," said Grant to himself. 

He had a talk with Admiral Porter who com- 
manded the gunboats, and then he crossed the 
Mississippi with his army. He marched down the 
west bank and halted south of Vicksburg. 

The terrible fort now shut off supplies. 

" Grant has put his army into a death trap! " cried 
his enemies in the North. Even President Lincoln 
thought perhaps he had made a mistake. But 
Grant's plans were not yet complete. He was 
waiting for Porter. 

One very dark night three transports were made 
ready. They were fashioned wide and long to 
carry supplies. Their boilers were padded with 
cotton and wet hay that could not easily be pene- 



THE STORY OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. 47 

trated by bullets; their engines were oiled that 
every joint might work its best; and their fires 
were screened that their light might be hid. 

Then eight of Porter's gunboats sailed out, like 
angry monsters, before Vicksburg. The transports 
ran at full speed behind their shelter. The Con- 
federate guards saw the gunboats. Bonfires were 
built on the shore. It was as light as day on the 
river. Shot and shell screamed through the air; 
but on sped the provision boats, while Porter's 
guns answered those on the shore. 

One of the transports was burned; but the others 
passed the batteries, followed closely by the gun- 
boats. At daybreak the little fleet sailed up to 
Grant's camp, on the west bank of the river; and 
men and supplies were soon across the river. 

Friendly negroes guided the army as it fought 
its way toward Vicksburg. Pemberton, with his 
troops, was soon shut up inside the city. A siege 
was begun. Shot poured into Vicksburg until 
the citizens had to dig caves and cellars for 
shelter. Pemberton must have remembered the 
cannonading in the belfry of the old church in 
front of Mexico! 



4 8 



THE STORY OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. 



The weeks went by, and at last the Confeder- 
ates were starving. 

" We will escape by the river," said Pemberton. 

Houses were torn down to build rafts; but the 
gunboats drove the rafts back. 

" We will flee in the night by way of unfre- 
quented roads," said Pemberton; but two hundred 
cannons were guarding those roads. 

Grant's arriiy lay coiled around the city like a 
huge serpent guarding its prey. And, at last, on 
the 4th of July, 1863, General Pemberton made 
an unconditional surrender. 

When Admiral Porter saw the Union flag waving 
from the ramparts of the city, he hurried his gun- 
boats beneath the friendly walls. And fleet and 
army celebrated Independence Day in Vicksburg. 

" It's Grant again," said the people of the North, 
when they heard the good news. " It's Uncon- 
ditional Surrender Grant! " 

President Lincoln wrote: "My Dear General: 
I do not remember that you and I ever met per- 
sonally. I write this now as a grateful acknowl- 
edgment for the almost inestimable service you 
have done the country." 



THE STORY OF ULYSSES S. GRANT 



49 



Grant was given command of all the armies in 
the West. 



X I . — C H ATTANOOGA. 

While Grant and other generals were fighting 
in the West, war had been raging in the East. 
Washington, the capital of the United States, and 
Richmond, the capital of the Confederate States, 
were both well guarded. 

When Robert E. Lee became commander of 
the army at Richmond, he asked for more clothing 
and food for his soldiers. 

" If General Lee wants supplies, let him find 
them in the North," said the Confederate com- 
missary general. 

Lee crossed the Potomac River and marched 
into Pennsylvania. He was met by General 
Meade at Gettysburg and driven back into Vir- 
ginia, just one day before the surrender of Vicks- 
burg. 

*' We must keep Lee in Virginia," said Grant 
when he heard of it. 

He began to gather his forces together to march 
toward Virginia. On the line of march lay Chat- 



50 THE STORY OF ULYSSES S. GRAXT. 



tanooga, where General Rosecrans, with a Union 
army, was shut up by the Confederates. There 
seemed no way for him to escape. On the north 
of the city was the Tennessee River, on the east, 
south, and west were high mountains, with cannons 
guarding all the passes. 

" We must get the boys out of Chattanooga," 
said Grant. With Sherman, Sheridan, and other 
brave officers he led his armies to an assault. 

They stormed up the mountain sides. Some of 
the fighting on Lookout Mountain was so high 
that the engagement is called the ''battle above 
the clouds." 

The .Confederates were routed completely, and 
the starving army was fed. When the news of 
the victory at Chattanooga reached the North, 
there was the wildest excitement. 

" Unconditional Surrender Grant has a better 
name now," cried the people. " It is Uniformly 
Successful Grant!" 

Congress ordered a gold medal for the con- 
queror; and some congressmen said, " Washington 
fought for the independence of our states; Grant 
is fighting for their union. Washington was 



THE STORY' OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. 



51 



lieutenant-general of the army, let us revive the 
grade for Grant." 

And so the hero was summoned North to receive 
his new title. Special trains carried him to Wash- 
ington. At every station crowds gathered to 
see him. He bore his honors with modesty, and, 
when he reached the capital, went quietly to a 
hotel. Few persons knew that he was there. 

While he sat unnoticed in the dining room a 
gentleman recognized him, and when it was whis- 
pered about who the stranger was, cheers re- 
sounded through the hall; he could hardly return 
to his room for the crowd. 

Lincoln, when he handed him his commission as 
lieutenant-general, said: "As the country herein 
trusts you, so, under God,, will it sustain you." 

Grant felt very serious at that moment. It 
seemed that the success of the Union arms 
depended on his skill. And when some fashion- 
able ladies of Washington wished to give a ball in 
his honor, he said: "Ladies, I wish to ask you, 
in all kindness, if this is a time for music and 
feasting among the officials of the army. 

" Do dances soothe our sick and wounded ? 



52 



THE STORY OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. 



Do they inspire our troops with courage in the 
field ?" 

You may be sure that the ball was not given. 



XII. — The Close of the War. 

" We must work together," said Lieutenant- 
General Grant, "but we must keep the enemy 
divided." 

He planned a campaign with General Sherman, 
and then hurried to the East to take command of 
the Army of the Potomac. 

Sherman defeated the Confederates in the 
West, and then marched toward the sea. His 
army was in four columns covering a belt of coun- 
try sixty miles wide. He destroyed bridges, rail- 
roads, and provisions, so that no aid could be sent 
to Lee at Richmond. 

It was a terrible thing to do; but there seemed 
to be no other way of ending the war. When 
Sherman reached Savannah he went into winter 
quarters to wait until Grant might need him. 

All this time Grant was fighting around Rich- 
mond. Some of the battles were in such a wilder- 



THE STORY OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. 



53 



ness that the armies could not stand in line; but 
shot and shell shrieked through the gloomy shade. 
The loss of life was so frightful that many 
thought Grant should abandon the siege around 
Richmond. 

But Grant said: "I propose to fight it out on 
this line if it takes all summer." 

This was not because he was careless about the 
loss of so many brave soldiers. When news came 
that one gallant officer had fallen, he sat alone 
and sobbed. The whole army knew of his sorrow, 
and the band gathered at the door of his tent to 
play a funeral dirge. 

The slaughter of battle was as dreadful to Grant 
as to any one else; yet he knew that the cruel war 
must be ended by desperate fighting. 

At last his army surrounded Lee's army. On 
the Qth of April, 1S65, Lee surrendered at Appo- 
mattox Court House, about seventy-five miles from 
Richmond. 

The two generals met at a farm house to agree 
upon terms. Lee wore an elegant new uniform, 
with a sword at his side. Grant was in plain sol- 
dier's blouse, and without a sword. He did not 



54 THE STORY OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. 

wish to make a display of authority before his 
unhappy countrymen. 

He gave generous terms of surrender. No men 
were kept as prisoners, and all were allowed to 
keep their horses. 

" They will need them to work their little 
farms," he said. 

There was rejoicing in the North and in the 
South that the conflict was over. But the joy was 
turned to grief when President Lincoln was assas- 
sinated. He had been Grant's best friend, and 
it was with a sad heart that the victorious general 
marched his army into Washington. 

Vice-President Johnson had become President, 
and before him the troops passed in review. 
Then they went to their own states to return to 
their shops and farms. 

General Grant went to his home in Galena, 
Illinois. The grateful people all over the country 
raised large sums of money for him. The citizens 
of Galena presented him an elegant house, and 
those of Boston sent him a library of rare books. 

Congress created for him the grade of General. 
Even Washington did not receive such a high 



THE STORY OF UL i SS£S S. GRANT. 55 

military title as that. Then some began to say that 
U. S. stood for " United States," and that it would 
be a graceful act to make U. S. Grant President of 
the United States. 



XIII. — President of the United States. 

Andrew Johnson was a very unpopular President, 
and when the time came for the national conven- 
tion the Republicans nominated General Grant to 
succeed him. 

During the campaign which followed, he did not 
go about making speeches. 

" No terms except unconditional surrender." 

" I shall fight it out on this line if it takes all 
summer." 

" The men will need their horses to work their 
little farms." 

"The people of the South are again our 
countrymen." 

"Let us have peace" These were some of 

the speeches he had made during the four years' 
war and the people remembered them. 

They elected him President and he was inaugu- 



56 THE STORY OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. 

rated March 4, 1869. His first term was so suc- 
cessful that he was elected for a second term. 

When the year 1S76 came, Congress decided to 
celebrate the centennial of the Declaration of 
Independence by giving a World's Fair. 

You can guess why Philadelphia was chosen for 
the Fair. All the foreign nations were invited. 
Some said that the monarchs of Europe would not 
take part in such a parade over the birthday of a 
republic. But they did. 

Even Queen Victoria sent laces and other 
beautiful things to this Fair which celebrated the 
day when our patriots refused to obey her tyranni- 
cal grandfather. 

The Centennial Exposition helped to unite the 
people of the North and the South more than any- 
thing else had done since the war. Those from 
South Carolina remembered how their forefathers 
had sent rice to Boston when King George had 
shut up her port. Those from Virginia recalled 
how Patrick Henry had spoken in Philadelphia for 
liberty and George Washington had fought for 
liberty and Union. 

The Fair lasted for six months ; but, of course, 



THE STORY OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. 



57 



ace 




58 THE STOR Y OJ- ! I. YSSES S. GRANT. 



the great day was the 4th of July. President 
Grant was present then, and stood on a reviewing 
stand while a grand procession passed. He 
received the foreign guests with dignity, and won 
the praise of all by his plain common sense. 

The people were so proud of him that some 
declared he must serve for a third term. But 
Grant remembered the example of Washington 
and Jefferson. He said : " 1 will not serve again. 
There are many others as worthy as I." 

Rutherford B. Hayes, of Ohio, was elected Pres- 
ident and, after his inauguration, General Grant 
returned to his home in Galena. 



XIV. — The Travels of Ulysses. 

It is said that after he had served his country all 
he could, the Greek Ulysses wandered over the 
known world ; and that is just what his American 
namesake did. 

While Grant was President his only daughter, 
Nellie, married an English gentleman. And now 
that his public duties were over, he resolved to pay 
her a visit. So he set sail from Philadelphia with 
his wife and one son. 



THE STORY OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. 59 

When Queen Victoria learned that Grant was 
coming to England she did not know just what to 
do. She asked her ministers : " Shall we receive 
him as a ruler or as a private citizen?" 

Ex-presidents Martin Van Buren and Millard Fill- 
more had both traveled abroad as private citizens. 

But just at this time Lord Beaconsfield was 
prime minister in England. He had once been a 
commoner yet he had more power at court than any 
nobleman in the realm. He said to the queen : 
" We will be doing honor to a wonderful general 
and pay a high tribute to a great nation if we 
receive ex-President Grant as a sovereign." 

And so when Grant's steamer reached Liverpool, 
the flags of all nations were flung to the breeze in 
greeting. Hail Columbia and The Star Spangled 
Banner were played by the bands. 

At Manchester, where the lack of cotton during 
the American war had stopped the humming of 
thousands of spindles, the name of Grant was well 
known. 

When he made a speech to the delegates from 
the Labor Unions, he said : " In America we 
recognize that labor dishonors no man. No 



60 THE ST OR Y OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. 

matter what a man's occupation is, he is eligible to 
fill any post in the gift of the people." 

And who was better fitted than Grant, the 
tanner, to prove these words? 

He was received in state at Windsor Castle by 
the queen, and the Prince of Wales did him honor. 

Wherever Grant went he learned much about 
famous generals. In Sweden he saw the clothes of 
Gustavus Adolphus, stained with the blood of battle; 
in Germany he stood at the grave of Frederick the 
Great ; in France he lingered over the tomb of 
Napoleon ; in Spain he examined the armor of 
King Ferdinand ; in Italy he admired the marble 
busts of the Caesars; in Russia he held the sword 
of Peter the Cxreat ; in Egypt he climbed the pyra- 
mids of the Pharaohs. Wherever he went he 
heard of great generals and he knew that the 
world called him one of the greatest. 

Yet when he entered Jerusalem and saw the 
tomb of Jesus of Nazareth, he said: " Here slept 
the real warrior ! He conquered the world with 
his love." He stood a long time with bowed head 
at this tomb of the carpenter's son, whose mission 
was "peace on earth and good will to men!" 



THE STORY OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. 6 1 

When Grant reached China, he thought that no 
one there would know anything about him. Yet 
at Shanghai he was received with fireworks. One 
of the banners in a procession said: " Washington, 
Lincoln, and Grant, three immortal Americans! " 

The emperor of China was only eight years old 
and the prime minister, Li Hung Chang, received 
Grant at Canton. The two men became great 
friends. Grant urged the Chinese statesman to 
come to America to study modern methods of 
living. 

At Nagasaki, in Japan, the Mikado shook his 
hand. Such an honor had never before been 
granted to a foreigner. 

At last Grant set sail from Yokohama for home. 
When he reached San Francisco the harbor was 
corwded with steamers, yachts, and tugs. Thou- 
sands of his countrymen greeted him with cheers. 
Bands of music played national airs, and at night 
bonfires were built and sky-rockets lighted the 
sky. 

Grant went back to Galena. After a time he 
moved to New York city ; but wherever he lived 
he was loved and respected. 



62 THE STORY OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. 



XV. — The Closing Years. 

General Grant lived in New York like any 
other private citizen. He invested his money in 
the banking business. He had wealth and friends 
and honor. It seemed that he would have noth- 
ing to do the rest of his life but enjoy himself. 

But the year that he was sixty-two years old 
misfortune came. The manager of his bank 
proved dishonest. Grant found himself deprived 
of his fortune. He fell ill. Throat trouble devel- 
oped. When he was able to be about again some 
publishers asked him to write for a magazine. 

He said he was not sure that he could write any- 
thing worth reading, but he would try. He wrote 
about the battle of Shiloh. 

Everybody wanted to read what the hero 
of Shiloh had written. The publishers were 
delighted. They asked him to write more ; and 
he wrote about the siege of Vicksburg. 

Meanwhile his throat was growing worse. One 
morning the doctors looked very grave. They 
told him he could live only a few months. 

Grant had never surrendered in any battle ; yet 
he knew that Death conquers all. He wanted 



THE STORY OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. 63 



very much to live long enough to pay his debts 
and make his family comfortable. 

And so he began to write what he called his 
Memoirs. Most of the book was to be about the 
civil war. His throat pained him ; he grew thin 
and pale ; but he worked away at his task. He 
became so weak that he was removed to Mount 
McGregor, near Saratoga. 

News came to him that many thousand people 
had subscribed for his book. This pleased him 
very much. At last, the Memoirs was finished. 
He laid down his pen and, a few days later, on the 
23d of July, 1885, he died. 

His body was carried to the city hall in New 
York, where it lay in state. Thousands passed to 
view the remains. 

Almost all who passed had lost a relative or a 
friend in the war, and they felt that General Grant 
had gone to meet his comrades on the great 
recruiting ground on high. 

He was borne to a temporary vault on the 
banks of the Hudson. 

Among the pall-bearers were General Buckner, 
whom he had conquered at Fort Donelson, 



64 THE STORY OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. 

and General Joseph E. Johnston, once the com- 
mander of Confederate armies. 

These heroes from the South walked side by 
side with other heroes from the North. 

A temple of pure white marble was erected in 
Riverside Park for his last resting place. Among 
those who contributed funds to build it was Li 
Hung Chang in far-away China. 

In 1897, when the Chinese prime minister came 
to New York, he was borne to the tomb in his 
sedan chair. He stood long in silence at the sar- 
cophagus which enclosed the remains of his friend. 

And every day in winter, when the snow lies 
cold around the marble tomb, and in summer, 
when the banks of the Hudson gird it with green, 
people enter within the noble monument and 
stand in silence before the remains of Ulysses S. 
Grant, the protector of our American Union ; and 
with solemn thoughts they read the inscription, 
Grant's own words, carved in the white stone 
above the doorway : — 

" Let us have Peace." 



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